This invention relates to a system, apparatus, and a method of pressure dispensing liquid from a container, and is particularly concerned with the dispensing of a liquid from a disposable or throwaway container in which the liquid within the container is pressurized.
Heretofore, many liquids, such as wine, soft drink syrups, draft beer and the like were pressure dispensed from rigid wall metal containers by internally pressurizing the container with a gas (e.g., carbon dioxide or nitrogen) to a pressure level sufficient to force the liquid from within the container via a diptube to a remotely located dispenser. For example, in a restaurant, a rigid container holding a semi-bulk quantity (e.g., 1-20 liters or more) of wine may be located in a refrigerated cold box and piped to a wine dispensing station conveniently located within the restaurant for ready access by restaurant personnel. In dispensing post mix soft drinks mixed from carbonated water and a concentrated syrup, the syrup is conventionally delivered to the restaurant in rigid metal reusable canisters or tanks. These tanks are typically provided with quick disconnect fittings so as to enable a source of pressurized gas (e.g., carbon dioxide) to be connected to the tank and to pressurize the interior of the tank and the liquid therein. Typically, these tanks contain 5 gallons of concentrate syrup and are constructed so as to withstand a predetermined pressure with an adequate margin of safety.
These prior art reusable metal tanks or kegs were typically of sturdy, metal construction, made of stainless steel or the like, and were consequently expensive. Upon return of these reusable tanks to the soft drink bottling plant, brewery, or winery, it is necessary to sanitize the containers prior to refilling. Also, it was often necessary to repair the quick disconnect fittings and other seals on the container to prevent leakage. Since these containers were reusable, it was necessary for the delivery person not only to deliver filled containers to a customer, but the empty containers must be collected and loaded onto the delivery truck thus resulting in increased time for each delivery stop on the route.
In delivering liquid beverages, such as soft drink syrups, pre-mix soft drinks which are ready for consumption, wine, or draft beer, it is highly desirable that the container be sealed by means of a tamper proof closure. Generally, it is desirable to eliminate a reclosable closure, such as a threaded closure, so as to prevent or inhibit tampering with the container. However, heretofore, the use of a tamperproof closure, such as a crimped in place closure, presented problems in that it required special tools or handling procedures for restaurant personnel to remove the closure prior to dispensing. This added step of removing the tamper proof closure resulted in increased complexity and difficulty for using a system which included such a tamper proof container and required special training and tools for the restaurant personnel.
Still further, it was recognized as a problem that the use of a stopper assembly which could be sealably fitted to a disposable container with the stopper assembly carrying a reusable dip tube which extended down into the bottom of the reusable container presented a problem in that upon removal of the diptube from the container, the diptube would often be coated with and would have a small quantity of the beverage product (e.g., soft drink syrup) thereon. It was necessary to lay the stopper dip tube assembly down while restaurant personnel changed the empty disposable container for a filled container and thus the problem of where to lay the stopper/diptube assembly while changing containers while maintaining the diptube in a sanitary condition presented a problem.
In the blow molding of larger size (e.g., 5 gallon or 19 liter) containers, it is difficult to control the overall length or height of the container to close tolerances. Thus, there arose a need to be able to accommodate a relatively large range of container heights within the apparatus shown in the above-noted oopending U.S. application Ser. Nos. 439,115 and 363,511.
Reference may be made to the following U.S. patents which disclose prior art dispensing apparatus generally in the same field as the instant invention: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,371,822, 3,589,506, 3,768,706, 3,945,534 and 4,045,860, and to British patent specification Nos. 1,268,906 and 1,446,338.